Explore what five of your Reiki colleagues had to say about what keeps them returning to their volunteer site as a Reiki Volunteer.

Meet Carolyn Wilkins, Reiki Professional and Reiki Volunteer

“I love Reiki! I have a very busy schedule, so I don’t get to share Reiki with other people nearly as often as I would like. But from time to time, I have been blessed with the opportunity of volunteering at Elise Brenner’s monthly Reiki Clinic. For a nominal fee, Elise invites members of the community to experience a Reiki treatment. The participants are from all ages, races and walks of life. Some are experiencing Reiki for the first time while others come every month. Some of these people are in perfect health and are just looking for a way to relax. Others have more serious conditions. But no matter who they are or how they feel before their Reiki session, clients tend to leave Brenner Reiki Healing’s clinic smiling. As a Reiki practitioner, it has been my joy and an honor to serve these people.”

Meet Cecelia Staryos, Reiki Professional and Reiki Volunteer at Project New Hope in Massachusetts. ​“The treatment draws to a close. I remove my hands then step back. My client sits up and accepts a cup of water. All the preparation, every moment of the session, each breath has led to this sacred place. I am in the presence of awakening consciousness. My client and I sit quietly in the glow. We listen with an awareness articulated by the vast openness of silence and stillness. We acknowledge busy mind. Returning over and over to the glow, we strengthen our ability to be with the innate harmony and balance that has always been here for us. As we walk to the door, I whisper a blessing filled with gratitude.”

“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in”.~Author Unknown

Meet Judy Bousquin, Reiki Professional and Reiki Volunteer.​“The transcendent experience of Reiki keeps me returning to my Reiki volunteer position at Women’s Lunch Place (WLP) in Boston, MA. In the spring of 2015, I began a Reiki Clinic at WLP, a day shelter for women, homeless and/or living in poverty. This urban oasis offers meals, showers, medical services, employment counseling, housing possibilities and, for three years, Reiki. Although the WLP guests have been through multiple life challenges, disappointments, and sometimes, violence and other traumas, they approach their lives and future with courage, equanimity and grace. My intuition pulled me into this place of promise and opportunity; knowing of their difficult life experiences, initially, I was not sure how these women would respond. My uncertainty was lifted from my first day onward. The guests initially came to Reiki for the relaxation, calm and balance this gentle practice offers. Over time, these Beautiful Ladies, as we call them, have allowed their Reiki experience to support their journey, not take away the difficult parts. By doing so, my WLP clients have used Reiki to transcend their life circumstances on many levels. This has kept me coming back and has sealed my commitment time and again. For me personally and professionally, this was an overwhelming lesson. My observation: Reiki soothes and comforts and heals on deep levels bringing one to where they are at any given moment in place and time, creating a space of calm alertness and acceptance, transcending perceived obstacles on our path.”

Meet Andrea Shah, Reiki Volunteer, “I did not know we were being photographed by the husband (who is a physician) of the woman in this photo; he commented on how her tremors stopped for a time during Reiki.”​“As a hospice volunteer, at Mt. Auburn Hospital's Hospice Program, my inspiration comes from my beautiful inspirational patients and their amazing families, who are gracious and grateful. One daughter who had been concerned about her mom's agitation sent me this after a single visit to her mom:​"It's XXXX's daughter - just want you to know she passed peacefully in her sleep this morning. Thank you so much for making her last days peaceful and comfortable. I like to think your Reiki treatment relaxed her enough to prepare her for her final transition from this life onto her next one."

It is also the handwritten cards like this one that encourage and strengthen my resolve to share Reiki in the hospice setting:

"Just wanted to thank you so very much for all your efforts helping our XXXX during her challenging journey with ALS. She had so many anxieties that stressed her so and your calmness and helpful treatments were amazing. I have never seen her so relaxed and even fell asleep after your Reiki sessions. This not only helped her but lifted the stress levels in our home. We greatly appreciate and thank you for all your help, compassion and love."

Meet Deborah Strafuss, Reiki Professional and Reiki Volunteer

“Right now I volunteer at Pleasantries Adult Day Care Create a Better Day Cafe giving Reiki to people with early and early mid-stage Alzheimer's and to their care partners. Their beautiful response is what keeps me coming back - as well as knowing that I am passing on something of my love for my own mother who passed from Alzheimer's in 2015. Each person I bring some relief and peace to I know Mom smiles and we have once again touched souls. And I think that is what sharing Reiki is really about. Touching souls. No matter where you are or who you are, when a practitioner and another person experience Reiki together - the one supposedly "giving" and the other supposedly "receiving", the truth is we have touched souls in the unexplainable sharing of the experience. As Frans Stiene so beautifully describes it, there is a non-duality in Reiki that brings about a heightened awareness of the oneness of us all in that great beautiful light. Together we become one in it and each of us leaves with greater peace and wholeness. To be able to be a small part of sharing Reiki Light and Love creates not only a path to peacefulness and health for the recipient, strengthening and supporting them in their journey in beautiful and indescribable ways only they will be aware of, but also brings about that beautiful oneness between two beings that helps to enrich the whole planet and the experience of life here and now. There is something very special about doing this for others for nothing. When you have decided to earn income from providing this experience for clients, it is a joy to just pour it out freely to those who experience the unexpected joy of receiving Reiki for no recompense- a free gift of the heart, mind and spirit. Giving enriches the giver as well as the receiver!”

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